“Growth is so much more important than what you know. The desire to learn and grow your knowledge is what’s important. You can’t judge yourself for not having a particular knowledge, you can only judge yourself for not wanting to grow in that knowledge.”
Evatt S. is from the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Durango, Colorado. He’s finishing his fourth year of a five-year double major in physics and theatre with an emphasis in acting, and plans to graduate in 2020. How does someone choose to double major in such seemingly disparate fields - and how does he have any extra time to tutor? In this interview, Evatt explains why physics and acting are both essential to feeding his mind and soul, and points to online tutoring as a great way to maintain effective mentorship while saving transportation time. Read more about this acting physicist, and while you’re at it, save the date for his next live performance: a twist on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew at Pepperdine’s Center for the Arts on April 23.
How did you choose such juxtaposed fields of study, and how’s that working out for you?
I’ve always really enjoyed being both left and right brained. When in the past I’ve tried to let one side of me go, it’s never really worked out well - I just go crazy. Having both keeps me satisfied; physics keeps the analytical side scratched and the creative side - making art and stuff - is theatre.
How did you end up in Malibu at Pepperdine?
I didn’t really know what I wanted to do in college - I thought maybe either acting or some sort of engineering, science, or chemistry. But the Venn diagrams didn’t really align well so I didn’t have a clear sense of what I wanted to do or where to go. So I decided to get out of my small-town bubble and come to a larger city to have that experience. Pepperdine was a good mix: it’s near LA and has access to everything that has to offer but it’s also removed a little, closer to nature, and more familiar to home. Plus, the acting program here is set up in a way where I can actually take a second major, whereas a lot of places you can’t do another major along with acting.
Why did you choose to study acting?
Acting has taught me so much about other people and about myself. Every time I do a different show, I am investigating somebody else through my character, and somehow while doing that I learn a lot about myself. It’s taught me to be comfortable in my own skin and taught me how to express myself more freely. Finding the truth of these characters and how to express that truthfully helps me to do that with myself.
Are you in any performances right now?
I am in rehearsals for The Taming of the Shrew right now. In our version, the genders are swapped, so the men are played by women and vice versa. I’m playing Bianca - a supporting female role - which is an interesting, explorative endeavor. The twist takes a show that could be considered pretty outdated - after all, it’s about taming a “shrew,” meaning a woman, and we reverse that so that a man suddenly gains a woman’s perspective in the world, and learns through that experience.
The play doesn’t vilify anyone or say all women are this way or all men are that way, but in the original play, there’s an essential message that women shouldn’t be headstrong individuals and you shouldn’t be in control of your own life because if you are, you’re seen as a shrew - abrasive, not ideal. Our story has rewritten a couple sections to explore the viewpoint of how it would feel if a man were to assume that role and have that experience. The systemic oppression of headstrong women is not ok, and a woman can be just strong as a man can.
What’s one of your favorite roles you’ve gotten to play?
Last year I got to do Edward Bloom in the musical version of Big Fish. It was an incredibly special show. The story is about family and stories and the power of stories and the power of the stories you tell yourself - it was great, and that was my favorite.
You’re clearly passionate about acting. So why physics, also?
I like how many unanswered questions there are in physics, specifically regarding how the universe came to be, what makes it up, and what governs its laws. For example, the research I do with a professor here - we are about to publish a paper about this - is looking at the qualities of the particle responsible for gravity. We have no idea what that is: an electron would be responsible for electricity and the magnetic field along with a proton, but for gravity we really don’t know. In physics, it’s pretty awesome how quickly you can get to depths that are uncharted.
Would you say your interest in the unknown (physics) balances your desire for individuals and yourself to become known (through acting)?
My love for each field of study has to do with my desire to understand the way things are. The way things are in terms of people and humanity is a bit less defined, less specific. So there’s a subjectivity that’s really important to realize when talking about the way people are - that’s theatre.
Another side of that coin is physics, which is very much about objectivity and finding what’s true objectively. I enjoy both a lot, but the process of trying to understand both of those things can be very different, and feeds me in different ways.
Do you have any plans or thoughts for what you want to do after you graduate?
I don’t know exactly, but my goal for now is to go to grad school and possibly become a professor of physics. I do, however, have an internship this summer with the engineering firm Northrop Grumman, and that will give me a chance to see what non-academia science is like so I can make a more educated decision. Ultimately I’d like to be a professor or researcher in physics, but grad school is probably in both futures.
Why not acting?
I used to be committed to acting, and I used to think my career was going to be in acting, but lately my interests have shifted. Acting is always something I’ll do, but it’s just not my focus right now.
What do you like about tutoring?
I do love tutoring, genuinely. I enjoy using what I know to try to help somebody else have that knowledge too. Reframing the knowledge I have in a way that someone else is going to understand is a difficult thing to do but really satisfying. Seeing my students get something, and experiencing the moment it all clicks - that moment is just very fulfilling.
What have you learned from tutoring?
I have learned that if you don’t know something, be humble enough to admit that. If it’s something I think I know but I’m not able to articulate that right now, don’t waste time bumbling around and acting like I know. If I’m unable to answer a question, or it’s on the tip of my tongue, I’ll wait until after the session and go refresh what it is that I was missing, then I might send a video or something to the student just trying to explain further. I think in anything - especially teaching - you have to have integrity, so part of that is being humble when you don’t know everything.
What is something you’ve learned from a mentor that inspires you in your own tutoring?
My professor with whom I’m doing research right now has been a big mentor of mine. The research I’m doing is way over my head and I’m nowhere near the knowledge base I should have, but he’s taken me on as an assistant. I’ve had a huge learning curve in order to be helpful to him, so he’s essentially had to give me a lot of private lessons in some of these things. The lesson he’s given me - the gift - is that growth is so much more important than what you know. The desire to learn and grow your knowledge is what’s important. You can’t judge yourself for not having a particular knowledge, you can only judge yourself for not wanting to grow in that knowledge.
What is some regular advice you find yourself giving students?
I try to convey to students the point that I can make their lives easier in terms of helping them with homework, but they’re going to have to learn themselves - I can’t make them learn. In other words, I can make lives easier, but ultimately they have to do the work of learning. I can support them and give them tools and confidence to do that and make that a little less painful, but they ultimately have to be the ones to actually study and internalize it. I’m not going to be able to do everything they need in an hour or two-long session to pass the test, but I can give them tools to do the learning on their own.
You’ve transitioned some of your students to online tutoring. How is that going?
Online tutoring has taken some getting used to but I think it’s been really effective and I feel like I’m able to provide a service that is really comparable to in-person tutoring and is much more convenient for both me and the student. I wouldn’t have enough time to leave campus and tutor multiple students in their individual homes; now I can do it at campus and helps maintain relationship with students after transitioning students to online. The tools that PCH tutors is using are effective and powerful so we are able to import graphs and external information into our work space and it’s just like looking at it on a computer in person.
Do you ever have free time and if so, how do you spend it?
I enjoy being outside, hiking camping, and seeing how cool the outside world is. If I’m not doing that, I like deep conversations with small groups of people; I can do that for hours and be pretty content. If I could have been a philosophy major I would have added a third major, but I would have been here another two years!
Being from Colorado, I’m also a big skier and mountain biker. Durango is so close to the mountains and there is incredible kayaking and rafting, and it’s really close to nature. I grew up doing all that and I love it.
Read anything good recently?
I most recently enjoyed an anthology of short stories by Ernest Hemingway. He captures people in a way that’s pretty special.
